A coalition of 20 state attorneys general led by New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit Monday against the Trump administration, seeking to block sweeping layoffs and structural changes across the Department of Health and Human Services that they allege threaten public safety and violate federal law.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., argues that the administration's decision to eliminate more than 20,000 positions and collapse 28 agencies into 15 is unconstitutional, undermines congressional authority, and will inflict long-term damage on core health functions ranging from infectious disease tracking to assistance for low-income families.
"This administration is not streamlining the federal government; they are sabotaging it," James said in a press conference. "When you fire the scientists who research infectious diseases, silence the doctors who care for pregnant people, and shut down the programs that help firefighters and miners breathe or children thrive, you are not making America healthy - you are putting countless lives at risk."
Among the most impacted agencies, according to the complaint, are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The cuts, announced in March and implemented starting April 1, affected 3,500 workers at the FDA, 2,400 at the CDC, and half the workforce at SAMHSA.
James said the reductions have already crippled HHS's ability to respond to ongoing health crises. "The federal government has cut lab capacity so much that they have all but stopped testing for measles in the middle of an unprecedented measles outbreak," she said. "New York's public health lab, the Wadsworth Center... is scrambling to fill the void left by a hollowed-out CDC."
The attorneys general say the downsizing has halted national data collection efforts, including the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and the management of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The team responsible for maintaining the federal poverty guidelines-which states use to determine eligibility for food, housing, and Medicaid programs-was also disbanded, according to the lawsuit.
The restructuring plan, spearheaded by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also placed many employees on administrative leave, including those working on the World Trade Center Health Program and the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program. An internal memo obtained by NBC News indicated those workers face termination in June despite Kennedy's public assurances that key services would continue under a new agency, the Administration for a Healthy America.
The lawsuit follows an earlier legal challenge in April from a group of 23 attorneys general seeking to reverse the termination of $11 billion in public health grants. A federal judge issued a temporary injunction in that case, delaying the funding cuts but not yet ruling on their legality.
